Far From Famous: The F3 Skate Team

BREVARD SCENE

The stars of today aren’t made the same way they were years ago. The new taxi for rising is, of course, that wacky world of multimedia known as the internet.

One can go from relative obscurity to overnight viral phenomenon with just a quirky two minute video and some luck. All you need is a camera, an internet connection and a few fans to spread the good word and you’re in.

No one knows this technique more than Christian Bretz, Sebastian Diaz and Nick Delgado, the founders and principles of F3 Skate Team. In addition to winning competitions, which they are, and growing an impressive “flow team” (I’ll explain that one in a bit), these cats are gaining local and not-so-local notoriety as the hottest new skate team in the streets and online.

It takes a few minutes for them to get their Monster-fueled energy under control and settle down to talk, but with a couple more ollies to impress the scenery they sit down on their boards and we get into it.

BL: How did you guys start F3?

Bretz: Me and that kid over there (points at Diaz) were skating in a parking lot one day playing a game of S.K.A.T.E. (similar to H.O.R.S.E. in basketball) and we saw Nick ride by. He came back and we started hanging out and skating after school. Then one day someone said “we should start our own team”, and that’s pretty much it.

BL: What does the name mean? What are the 3 fs in question?

Delgado: The 3 fs stand for “far from famous”. We want people to understand that you don’t have to be the best skater on the planet to be recognized for what you do.Bretz: Yeah. It’s definitely a “heart” sport. We do it because we love it.

The F3 Skate Team: Christian Bretz, Sebastian Diaz and Nick Delgado.

BL: Would you say there are a lot of skaters out there famous more for their personality than they are for their ability?

Bretz: Definitely…look at Bam Margera; he’s basically a comedian on a board.

BL: But you guys don’t want to just be a gimmick right? What’s your plan with this team?

Diaz: We for sure want to take it as far as we can. Our videos and our Facebook site already have more views and likes than some of the guys on the comp circuits.

BL: So how many members do you have outside of the three of you?

Diaz: Brett Shepard and Zackary Floriano, our camera man, are on the team and then we have a flow team.

BL: And a flow team is…Confusion ensues as the guys all try to explain at the same time.

Delgado: I’ll break it down for you…we have people that we sponsor who skate for us.

BL: Ok…so they skate under your name, but they aren’t full members?

Bretz: Exactly. People send us videos all the time from everywhere that want to skate for us. We watch their videos and vote on whether they will be good for the team. Sometimes we put their videos up on our page as well.Diaz: We have a dozen skaters spread out across the country…North Carolina, Texas and California… and just recently we took on a couple from Canada.

BL: F3 also has a very successful youtube.com page with a lot of very popular videos…what’s going on with that?

Delgado: Every Tuesday we post-”Trick Tip Tuesday”, where we explain how to perform a trick so other kids around the world can learn. At that moment it hits me how much times have changed since I was a kid. At 17, 17 and 14 these guys are already thinking globally and what’s more is that it’s now a naturally common attitude among the youth of the world. Is it possible that we have reached a point in our own evolution where our new generations are being born with broader horizons automatically integrated into their “social DNA”? Hmmm…anyway…back to skate boarding.

Bretz: We try to put up montages every month and then in the middle of the weeks sometimes we put up throw aways.

BL: Throw aways?

Bretz: Out takes we don’t use for our real videos. Part of what makes F3’s clips so entertaining has a lot to do with the funny antics and goofy fun the guys add in. For instance, during Trick Tip Tuesday videos Christian will always take something from his pocket and show it to the camera. It might not be anything more consequential than his phone or a dollar, but the idea – as they explain it – is to help the viewer relate by offering a common thread…everyone has junk in their pockets. I’m not sure if I can fault that logic.

BL: How has being quasi-famous helped out with meeting girls?

Diaz: I don’t think anything has changed really.Delgado: Sometimes I’ll be talking to a girl online and just randomly post the link to our site and wait for a response. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.Bretz: You have to be nice and sweet for awhile and get to know them, and then one day you say “hey, I’m on a skate team…you should check out my site.” And that usually seals the deal.

BL: Where can people check out your videos? And where can skaters apply for your flow team?

All: They can email us with sponsor-me vids, or hit us up at one of our sites.

BL: Is there anything you want people to know about?

All: We need to give a huge shout out to Dan Hatcher and Graffiti Skate Zone. Dan is awesome and his park is the best. He’s been really great to us, so we want to definitely thank him for that.